God?

April 30, 2017 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

It would be so much easier if you could see God, touch Him, and hear Him audibly. But if all that was possible don’t you think it would cheapen your faith? I mean faith’s value goes through the roof when you chose to believe in who you can’t see, touch, or hear, and yet the things you have been talking to God about, happen.

If you asked God for His will for your life and the next morning you found an email in your inbox from God telling you to do something that you didn’t like you probably would label it as “Spam”. Or, you might be tempted to click on “unsubscribe”. You see God has a way of taking His desires for our lives and developing them in us to the point we start asking Him for the same thing. Thinking it was our idea. Steering wheel isolated on a white background

One thing about God’s will is the timing. Maybe you do know His will, but do you know His timing? A good way to discover His timing is by moving. It’s hard to steer a car when it is parked. When you are moving in the direction you think is God’s will He can steer you, but you have to prayerfully watch the road signs. It’s like this, just because someone offers you a job out of the blue, doesn’t mean it is God’s will for you to work there.

Another way to find His will and timing is to talk to mature Christians who have been there and have done that. They can counsel you in the ways of God, and also be praying with you. Remember this verse: Isa 55:9 “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (MSG) Trusting, believing, and obeying provides you the greatest adventures you will ever have and the most rewarding, and satisfied life.

Starved for God

April 22, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Starving man “I’m looking for the next party!” One recently shared with me. The next day I read the following scriptures from the Old Testament book of Hosea 9: 1-6 (MSG).

Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel. Don’t party away your life with the heathen. You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously at every sex-and-religion party on the street. All that party food won’t fill you up. You’ll end up hungrier than ever. At this rate you’ll not last long in GOD’s land: Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt. Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria. As refugees in Egypt and Assyria, you won’t have much chance to worship GOD– Sentenced to rations of bread and water, and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air. You’ll be starved for GOD, exiled from GOD’s own country. Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days? Will you miss festival worship of GOD? Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster, you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt. Egypt will give you a fine funeral! What use will all your god-inspired silver be then as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?

I feel sorry for the one who spoke those words to me. Their soul will always be starving for God. They will continue striving to feed their soul with the things of this world. I did my best to share this with them, but they didn’t want to hear the message, the Truth, and we know the Truth will set them free, and satisfy their soul.

Why?

April 15, 2017April 15, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Cross nailed He laid as still as he could. Any movement reminded him of the flogging his back took. The soldier placed the nail with the tip pressing his palm. He saw the other soldier rear back with the hammer. He turned his head. Bam! The nail drove through his flesh pinning him to the cross. That nail represented the times I took something that wasn’t mine.

The same thing took place on the other side. Bam! That nail represented the sinful times I touched something I had no business touching. Bam! The nail in his feet represented the times I have gone somewhere I had no business being. The thorny crown shoved down into his head represented the evil thoughts I failed to bring into captivity. The beatings he suffered should have been mine. The spit that landed on him, represented the disgrace that was meant for me.

Everything Jesus went through, the trial, lies, pain, agony, and torture was for me. The 39 lashes that shredded his back open and bled was so I could be healed. He chose to go through that for me. He chose to go through all that for you. Why? Because He knew, He was the only who could. Because He knows pure love, and how to show it.

He also knew how to defeat death, and on the third day, He proved it.

THANK YOU, JESUS.

What is Hell?

April 9, 2017April 9, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Art work by Duncan Long

I asked that question at work this past week. One lady replied, “Sitting in Chicago traffic and having to go to the bathroom really bad!” But what is hell to you? Or, what do you think hell will be?

Several don’t believe in hell. Others think it will be one big party. Here are some facts about hell: (to me, the last point about hell is enough to be called, “hell”!)

IN HELL – DARKNESS

1 Sam 2:9 “He will protect his godly ones, but the wicked will perish in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.”

IN HELL – FIRE & BURNING

Matt 25:41 “Then He (Jesus) will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (demons).”

Mark 9:48 “… and the fire never goes out.”

IN HELL – NO HOPE

Prov 11:7 “When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, and the hope of the unjust perishes.”

IN HELL – NO MERCY

Psalms 103:4 “Who redeems your life from the Pit, Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion (tender mercies).”

IN HELL – NO PEACE

Isa 57:21 “There is no peace for the wicked, says my God.”

IN HELL – NO PURPOSE

Psalms 6:5 “For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?”

Eccl 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity (work)or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (Hades/Hell) where you are going.”

IN HELL – NO REST

Rev 14:11 “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

IN HELL – NO WATER

Luke 16:24 “The Rich Man shouted, `Father Abraham, have some Pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these flames.”

HELL IS A PLACE OF ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD

2 Thess 1:7-10 “And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing Judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power, when He comes to receive glory and praise from His Holy people. And you will be among those praising him on that day, for you believed what we testified about him.”

You, who are reading this, are alive. You still have hope! Recognize Jesus Christ is God’s Son, and ask Jesus to forgive you of your wrong doing, your sins. Then ask Him to live in you, to guide you. You do this, and mean it, you will escape hell.

You Want Me to do What?

April 2, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Trust Obey.jpg What would you do, if one day God asked you to do something, well, crazy? Would you say, “Let me pray about that.”? Or would you obey, no questions asked? I am reading from the book of Hosea, in the Old Testament. God asked him to marry a prostitute. Can you imagine?

Some time ago a friend asked me to take her to have an abortion. She hadn’t even told her husband she was pregnant. Can you imagine a “pro-life” believer in an abortion clinic? But I felt if I said, “No.” she would try to drive home after the procedure by herself. I told her I would take her, but then I started praying like crazy. I asked God what to do. I sensed His Spirit whisper, “Humanize the baby.” After some thought, I understood, and I did. I started asking her, “You want a boy or a girl?” “What would you name her?” A few days later she called. “Mark, I heard the baby’s heart today. I can’t kill the baby.” I cried, and gave thanks to God.

The point here is being obedient. You may not be asked to do something crazy, but every day God is asking you to reflect Him, His nature, His love, His grace and mercy. Also to share His plan to forgive sin with those around you. That’s what God is asking you to do.

Mat 28:19 Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Mat 28:20 Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” (MSG)